Falcons trivia: Who holds the single season record for interceptions?

As the trivia rolls on this offseason, I’m researching new questions and finding myself learning all sorts of cool things about this Atlanta Falcons that I either didn’t know or had forgotten entirely. Today’s another example of just that.

The question is a simple one: Who has the franchise all-time mark for interceptions in a single season? We’re looking for the player and the total, here.

A few notes on this record: The man who owns the single season interceptions mark for the franchise is tied for 28th in NFL history with a long list of other players in the NFL. You rarely see totals like this anymore, which is a shame that is reflected in stylistic sea changes across the NFL, and especially by the changing faces of NFL offenses. Only five other players have equalled our gifted Falcon’s mark since 2000, all of them quirkily happening in the AFC. Not a single soul has exceeded the mark since (not a typo) 1981, and it seems deeply unlikely that anyone will ever beat Dick “Night Train” Lane’s all-time record of 14 interceptions in a single season, which he set as a 24-year-old back in 1952.

Quick hint: The man who did it is one of the better, more underappreciated defenders in team history, known as much for his physicality as his ballhawking. Happy guessing!